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cnn world headquarters in atlanta, this is "early start weekend." ahead for you. spring may be here, snow from denver to dayton. seems like old man winter just is not going to let go. what is going on here? >> you killed an innocent human life and that i -- >> she watched in horror as her infant was shot in the head and now this georgia mother has a message for her son's accused

killers. someone, somewhere waking up filthy stinking rich this morning, people. $38 million rich. it is sunday -- sunday march 24th. good morning, rise and shine. i'm christi paul. so glad to have your company this morning. i want to begin by talking about your weather this morning. winter specifically, as we're in the fourth day of spring and this wicked winter storm is shoving its way across the country. our forecast today from kansas to pennsylvania and st. louis could get as much as eight inches of snow and a mess of sleet is headed for washington and new york. just want to make sure you have a heads up there. from texas to georgia, strong winds, large hail and a threat of tornadoes, as well. take a look at colorado, though. they have been particularly

slammed, as you can see. those are flames engulfing a semi truck that got caught in a whiteout. as many as 50 vehicles crashed or spun out along i-25. the interstate, along with at least 15 other highways across colorado were shut down yesterday. and look at that, my goodness. also want to show you a picture of i-70 in eastern colorado. it has reopened, by the way, after authorities closed a 150-mile stretch when wind gusts got up to 50 mile pers hour. i-70 in western kansas is still closed. if the storm pushes east to ohio and missouri valley, flights on denver are back on track. more than 200 have been canceled. the ohio valley and what not, please, take good care of what you're doing today. you may have to change travel plans. severe storms in the south.

heavy rain flooded streets yesterday and some cars in birmingham, alabama. even a mobile police command center got caught in rising water. the storms are expected to pack a punch today, too. north georgia and southern florida are on alert. possible tornadoes. all right, i want to give you a new recordings of an eyewitness 911 call that is shedding new light on the deadly shooting of a toddler in georgia. listen to this. >> appears he has been shot. >> listen to me, ma'am, is the baby breathing? >> i don't know. the baby is in a stroller and i just came out. did you hear any shots in the area? >> listen the baby is on the ground. >> i have people en route to you. did you hear any shots in the area? >> yes, i heard the shots. >> 17-year-old elkens and a

14-year-old boy who the police are not naming because of his age, are charged with first degree murder. nick is in the small town of brunswick. you saturday down yesterday with the baby's mom, sherry west. i don't know how she got in front of a camera. how was she with you? i apologize, i think we're having some audio issues with nick. i waited because i didn't know if you could hear him and i couldn't. we'll get back with nick when we get that problem taken care of for you. what's happening overseas right now. secretary of state john kerry arrived in baghdad just a short time ago. previously unannounced visit for him. he was in israel with president obama a couple days ago. remember this past week marked

the tenth anniversary of the start of the u.s. war in iraq. we'll have much more on this in the show with a live report from bagged it. for you new this morning, military officials have identified the quantico marine base gunman. 19-year-old sarah castramoto and jacob woolly both shot and killed last thursday on the marine base there in quantico. authorities believe 25-year-old lopez from the pacifica california shot both marines before killing himself. it is still under investigation. new york mayor, michael bloomberg, is behind a new round of ads that are aimed at gun control. mayors against illegal guns. they've actually got $12 million worth of airtime for this ad. >> my dad taught me to hunt and i'll teach my kids.

i've owned a gun all my life and i'll fight for my right to keep it. background checks have nothing to do with taking guns away from anyone. closing loopholes will stop criminals and the dangerously mentally ill from buying guns. that protects my right and my family. >> this effort is a group's most expensive yet to influence the debate over gun control. thursday more than 100 demonstrations and special events are planned in support of universal background checks. those ad as start running in 13 states on tuesday. in alabama, birmingham officials are still investigating the horoific death of a 10-year-old kansas boy. the executive chairwoman released this statement yesterday. >> i'd like to extend our heartfelt sympathy to the family of the child who passed following the accident friday at the birmingham international

airport. >> the act she's referring to. a 300-pound flight display board, you know, the ones you stand under and look at the arrivals and departures it collapsed and killed the boy. critically injured his mother, as well. again, that happened friday. birmingham's mayor released a statement after meeting with the boy's father yesterday expressing his concerns over the incident and calling for a vulinvestigation which, as i just said, is under way. southern virginia where officials are investigating what caused a csx freight train to derail. the train was on its way to kentucky. in all, 15 cars came off the tracks and four ended up in the river. all right, if you live in m new jersey, look at your powerball tickets, people. it revealed the winning tickt and it was sold in new jersey. and you heard me right, ticket. one person, or one ticketholder

will take home the entire prize of $338 million. i don't know if it's one person or a group of people, but it's one ticket. 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and 31. a cruise ship that had mu manacle problems last week has gone back out to sea. you're probably not surprised to know some of these passengers were nervous getting onboard. plus, major march madness upsets after the first top seeded team bit the dust. highlights and more after this. ] a classic macaroni & cheese from stouffer's starts with freshly-made pasta, and 100% real cheddar cheese. but what makes stouffer's mac n' cheese best of all. that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. made with care for you or your family.

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pictures from the vatican where pope francis is celebrating palm sunday. today celebrates jesus' return to jerusalem before his death and resurrection a week later. when pope benedict resigned the vatican wanted to act quickly to replace him to make sure a new pope was in place by this holiday. let's bring you back to the u.s. here. the carnival "dream" is back in service. set off from florida yesterday. some emergencies were nervous to board the carnival "dream" it did repair the faulty emergency generator and when it had that problem the cruise company paid to fly more than 4,000 passengers from the caribbean to orlando. i want to get out to nick live in brunswick, georgia, this morning. where, of course that fatoddler

was shot right in front of her mother. i know you spoke with the mother in this case. i am so impressed that she could even get in front of a camera after seeing something like this. >> she lost a lot of faith in humanity and is afraid of living in brunswick. when we showed up at her house, she was still in a lot of pain. we talked about the bullet lodged in her thigh, but mostly about her son and what she missed most about him. >> i still think about my son walking over to emoo e me in th morning and putting his head on my lap and my shoulder and me feeding him meals and the fact that he was just learning to eat. and that he'll never say his

first word. >> she'll probably take that grief to her grave. >> hey, nick, thank you so much. we appreciate you bringing that to us. by the way, he'll be with us in the next hour. we'll talk more about the teenage suspects. one 17 and one 14 and what is going on with that and the investigation. thank you, nick. health expert and body building icon joe died of heart fallier this weekend. he changed how the world looks at fitness. publishing "shape" "men's fitness." he brought an unnamed australian to the united states. you know who that is one, one arnold schwarzenegger. helped the former movie star break into the business. march madness continued

yesterday with another round of upsets. if your bracket wasn't busted yet, joe joins us with the bleacher report. yours is a little broke up, right? >> this tournament has been upset city. in the second round, a two and three seed go down and last night our first number one seed bit the dust. the zags were considered by many the weakest and unfortunately there the bulldogs they were unable to prove their doubters wrong. with about 12 minute to go but the shockers behind the barrage of three pointers to knock off the bulldogs with the loss gonzaga becomes the fifth team to end the season atop the polls and lose in the round of 32. >> it's a tough, tough way to end a fabulous season. but, you know, wichita state deserves a ton of credit.

>> just over now and it's sad. it hurts. but that's life, i guess. >> maybe the best game of the tournament so far took place last night between marquette and butler. this one went back and forth all night. marquette up two with three seconds to go, but they turn the ball over right here giving butler one last shot. the bulldogs, hey, they were unable to get a good look at the basket. this three would be no good. golden eagles hold on for the win toed a a vance to the sweet 16 for the third straight year. to see twitter' reaction to this game and every game throughout the tournament, head over to bleacherreport.com. tiger woods came rolling back yesterday to take the lead at the arnold palmer invitational. two-shot lead heading into today's final round. if tiger holds on to win, he will regain the world's number one ranking for the first time since october of 2010.

li lindsay von is home recovering, but maybe she'll show up to congratulate him if he wins. during the marches of 1965, tony bennett and harry bellefonte teamed up to prevent hate and now they're looking back and where the society stands now. 14 clubs. that's what they tell us a legal golf bag can hold. and while that leaves a little room for balls and tees, it doesn't leave room for much else. there's no room left for deadlines or conference calls. not a single pocket to hold the stress of the day, or the to-do list of tomorrow. only 14 clubs pick up the right one and drive it right down the middle of pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. no they don't.

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the calendar say spring but, people, look out your window. does it look anything like that to you? the fierce storm making its way across the midwest sending snow from denver to new york city. and there's a severe weather warning for the south, as well. depending where you are, always be careful, regardless. hope you're in a good position today. 48 years ago this month, the nation reached a turning point in the civil rights movement. the third and decisive civil rights march from selma to birmingham, alabama. >> kill, burn, bomb destroy. people go into selma is a whole

different game. >> reporter: harry bellefonte remembers the backdrop, the selma to montgomery marches in 1965. 50 miles had to be covered, but the real obstacle was hate. not long after 600 marchers began on sunday, march 7th, police brutally beat them, driving them back to selma. >> when bloody sunday happened and then dr. king decided to march again after it. what was the mood? >> the mood was anger. the mood was rebellious. the question is, what do we do in the face of this kind of rage and mayhem. the bottom line is we will go back as often as necessary. >> reporter: bring artists into the movement convince the likes of joe biaz and marlin brando but one of his first calls was to old friend and supporter tony

bennett. >> i didn't want to do it, but then he told me what went down, what was going down and how some blacks were burned with gasoline thrown on them and they were burned. when i heard that i said, i'll go with you. and that black/white divide. white faces would see your face. what do you think they thought about you? >> traitor. the spirit that we decided we're just going to march right through it, no matter what. >> reporter: after a federal court affirmed the right to march against the government and national guard troops were ordered to protect more troops, protesters grew from 600 to 25,000. to rally the crowd, the artists came forth, but one problem. >> we found out we didn't have a stage. and how many kid were there?

about 50 to 80 caskets. 50 to 80 coffins. >> how did you feel about that that the stage was built on coffins? >> well, it was different. >> to say the least, yet singing on top of coffins may be metaphor for the marches and they succeeded. later that august, president johnson signed the voting rights act of 1965. >> this purpose is not to divide, but to end divisions. >> reporter: change that bennett could feel even in the place that scared him the most. >> i went back to selma and i was pretty concerned about it. wonder how i was going to be treated. it changed, it changed. there were much more human, much more civilized. it made me feel like it worked.

it really worked. that march worked. >> reporter: but that work is unfinished says belafonte and he wonders -- >> reporter: where is the new harry belafonte. >> never in the history of this country has there been a pool of celebrities more numerous than we have today and never had the black people of this country been spoken for by a community of celebrities in the snap of a finger could say and do so much who opt aed to do nothing. >> why? >> they're so busy becoming about the harvest and the material successes that they receive the success of that mission forgotten that there was ever a mission. >> reporter: his message is clear. the march was in the past, but the movement for fairness under law where justice must continue.

>> civil rights is a constant. never of the past. it's with you all the time. every society, every mu lemmium, every decade is going to need its vigilant watchers of the democratic process. >> moving to see some of those pictures, too. thank you to chris cuomo for the report there. from kansas to virginia, we're talking about this monster winter storm making its way across the nation and whether this moody march weather is headed your way. plus, there has been thought in afghanistan. they were seriously wounded and now these military wives are getting a magical treat for one night out. [ male announcer ] this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem,

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well, half past the hour and aren't you up fuearly on a sund morning. we so appreciate the work that you do and we think about it every day. we're grateful to you and your

families. i'm christi paul and want to talk about march, certainly living up to its reputation at this point of roaring in like a lion, or, in this case, we're hoping roaring out. parts of eight states from kansas to virginia are under winter storm warnings today. we're tracking these midwest snow storms as they make their way east, of course. if you're headed out today, be sure to check the road conditions first and airport as for travel delays because an awful lot of those. fortunately, for colorado the worst of this storm has come and gone but good heavens at its point, folks saw near whiteout conditions yesterday. travel across the northern colorado area was nearly impossible. for a lot of drivers on i-25. that's where casey wian is bracing the wind. >> a nightmare for motorists in colorado yesterday. interstate 70 closed to the

kansas border for most of the day and interstate 25 closed in both directions in the area south and north of denver. massive pileups forced authorities to close the roads. we were right in the middle of the snow storm. we were at a rest stop between colorado springs and pube low, colorado. you can see the flags over here just being whipped by the wind. the snow is blowing. very dramatically and it hurts your face just to be standing out here in the snow. over here you can see or can't see interstate 25. normally the speed limit on the interstate is 75 miles an hour. you can see if this vehicle goes by us. he's going much slower. you can also see on the other side of the interstate, vehicles heading south at a very slow rate of speed, perhaps maybe 30 miles an hour or so. for the past 20 miles we've been driving, we've seen a succession of accidents. multi-car pileups, spinouts,

traffic backed up for a half mile or so heading south because of the accident. we couldn't even shoot pictures of what happened because it was too dangerous. a very serious winter-type storm has hit colorado in early spring. no fatalities despite all those pileups. the good news for colorado, the weather is expected to clear up as the day progresses sunday. christi? >> thank you so much, we appreciate it. casey wian for you there. president of the meteor logical society dr. jay marshall joining me. we should be talking about spring break right now. what the heck is going on in the world? >> i wore my spring colors to trick the atmosphere into thinking it is spring. we can get these winter storms in spring and march. think back to 1993 the super storm and the storm of the century was in march. there are strange things with the atmosphere, the arctic

oscillation which is affecting our winter right now. >> i know you described it, weather as a mood and climate as a personality. what do you mean by that? >> weather is your mood and climate is your personality. you can't say anything based on what is happening today no more than you can say on my personality based on my mood today. the at amous fear, not a magic flip that has been flipped to say, okay, we need spring weather. this jet stream patterns that we're under because of this arctic is affecting our weather and keeping us really cold in the eastern part of the united states, it's really an important thing for us to understand. >> so how does greenland affect these winter storms? >> greenland a big high pressure system sitting over greenland. a big, huge road block. what is happening because of this blocking pattern, cold air from the arctic is able to literally ooze out to the united states. think about pouring pancake

syrup on the top of the planet and literally flowing down into the united states because of this blocking pattern over in greenland. because of that pattern, we'll remain relatively cold here in t the. >> what these patterns predict for summer? >> right now we're stuck in this pattern and it's because of this arctic oscillation. we don't understand it, as well. record-high pressure over greenland, atmospheric pressure. if this breaks out of the pattern, we'll see changes in terms of our weather into summer. turns out whether we break out in arctic oscillation. >> oh, my goodness, dr. jay marshall shepherd around with us all morning here. thank you so much, good to have you here. vice president joe biden is going to hit the campaign trail to trump for comedian stoven colbert's sister is running for u.s. congress in south carolina.

she won the democratic primary last week. biden's people will head to south carolina before the may 7th election. she faces a tough battle because the district is heavily republican. in washington, three army wives and army fiancee their men severely wounded about a year ago in afghanistan got a big makeover on friday night. this was no regular fashion show, people. everything. the hair stylist and the makeup and the gowns and the liver driver, a driver, all of it donated. >> give something to people. what it feels like to be pampered and taken care of. >> just feel that everything came together and their outfits were provided and their shoes were provided and hair and makeup being done.

everything is amazing and a it all happened even just for a few hours. >> i feel like every women is beautiful in their own way. i see a woman just happy right after i do a makeover on them. like an infant. like, wow. >> our job is to dress and make them look even more beautiful. we thought it was a special way and we'll help them. >> everyone looks amazing. >> what woman doesn't love fashion? the evening is going to be amazing. >> i'm not used to seeing her like this on a day-to-day basis. >> my wife is so pretty, but she always is. she went to the beauty shop and got butteied up, but she's always pretty. but she looks phenomenal. >> emily looks amazing. i haven't seen her all day and it's nice to get a glance. >> i think she looks fantastic,

all the time. >> that's what our country is all about. young men putting themselves in harm's way . >> we so thank them for their service. >> a quadruple amputee was honored. it was organized by luke's wings and, in case you're wondering, the women were able to keep the designer dresses and shoes. passover celebrations begin tomorrow night for jewish communities around the world. we're taking you inside the celebration and the symbolism. the one thing that 99 percent of investors can expect to find

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live pictures here of pope francis in the pope mobile there. what an image you're getting right there. you're, obviously, seeing the back of him. seeing such a great view of what he sees as he travels through vatican city. of course, celebrating palm sunday, an important holiday for christians and this is the day that kicks off holy week. again, the pope and the popemobile waving really with very little protection, as we can see. which is kind of a take away and a departure from what we have seen from the popes prior in recent years. security has been much more define than it seems to be here.

nadia bilchic is here with me. to be anonymous a several weeks ago and now this man that is just worshipped. what he must be feeling going into easter this year. would love to get his take on that. of course, celebrate all kind of holidays from jerusalem and south africa and the united states. jewish communities around the world are celebrating passover tomorrow night. to help explain the symbolism of the meal, nadia belchic and she brings great props. let's start with the beginning of passover. >> ask pharaoh to let my people go and he wouldn't. god visit ten plains to pressurize pharaoh and the tenth

plague was the killing of every first born son but god passed over the israelite children, first born. hence passover. >> as we celebrate passover, let's talk about the meal and the symbolism of all of this. one of the things we have is herbs. everything has tremendous symbolism and meaning. it symbolizes the bitterness of the flavor and then you have apples and nuts, which is the cement of the bricks that the slaves were forced to build. and then we have the parsley over here commemorating spring, but you dip it in water which symbolizes the tears, the tears of slavery and then we have the shank bone, most important because it's the bone of the

land that marked the israelite homes so that god knew to passover. we also call passover, which means past lamb. all kind of things which is very fragile and that shows the fragility of life and no time for bread to rise when you are escaping from egypt. >> isn't that something? thank you so much. happy and kosher pasover. >> to you. >> she says it better. i'll just let her say it. money, inheritance, death, health benefits. all these things are affected by the defense of marriage act. the supreme court is hearing arguments on wednesday and we'll introduce you to one couple. an air force member and a cop who have a lot riding on this decision. but that doesn't mean i don't want to make money. i love making money. i try to be smart with my investments. i also try to keep my costs down. what's your plan?

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good morning, atlanta. doesn't look like it yet, though. see a live shot of downtown atlanta there. very soggy downtown. heavy thunder and lightning overnight. and take a look at the radar. that's why. heavy storms move in across the southeast today. everybody kind of hunkered down there. not only trying to get you ready for the day ahead with weather but let's talk about the week ahead from outer space to cool new cars. time to get you ready. let's talk about tuesday first of all. dragon capsules splash down in the pacific ocean. filled with two tons of experiments and supplies from the international space station. also on tuesday, for the first time ever, the supreme court takes up the issue of same-sex

marriage. they are hearing oral arguments on prop 8. of course, california's ban on gay marriage. and then we also have david petraeus, his first public appearance since resigning as director of the cia. he stepped down after discovered he was having an affair. he will speak at a dinner honoring mill terveterans and active duty. moving to wednesday. all eyes back on the supreme court at that point because they're hearing arguments on the defense of marriage act. doma denies federal benefits to same-sex couples legally married in their own state. and then friday, all right, car enthusiasts get to new york. the new york auto show kicks off. the nine-day event features about 1,000 vehicles and will, of course, show off hot new cars and trucks from around the world and all the technology that goes in them. we told you about the defensive marriage act up for

debate on wednesday. thousands of couples across the country affected by the supreme court decision and cnn joe johns spoke to one of those couples. joe? >> christi, the defensive marriage act has been the law of the land since 1996. though its title may sound harmless enough, gay and lesbian americans all over the country claim the law has caused enormous damage, claiming that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. jamel thomas and corinne williams were together four years before they got married last october. don't let the wedding dresses fool you. their lives are not all saturn and pearls. >> i am a police officer here in d.c. >> which makes this couple a case study and how america's married but unequal approach to same-sex relationships can play out. >> as an airman, you get a

constant reminder that you're second class. >> reporter: a federal employee, but the federal defensive marriage act bars same-sex marriage by the government. which affect benefits for spouses. everything from filing taxes to receiving death benefits to who gets called as next of kin. >> i had to list her as my sister just so that someone would call her in the event that i am killed or missing in action or i'm hurt on the job. she can't be my emergency contact or receive my remains. >> reporter: as a district of columbia employee, she gets the benefits of being married. only nine states and the district of columbia have taken that step. so, she loses status as a spouse, just by crossing the potomac river into virginia. >> why do we have to be married locally, but federally, it's nothing. we're friends.

we wear a ring symbolically. it's ridiculous. >> what the bill does -- >> reporter: now the defensive marriage act known as doma first passed by congress and signed by president clinton in 1996 is being challenged at the supreme court. >> being asked to decide there. whether or not congress can pass a law that treats same-sex couples who are already married under the laws of their state different from opposite sex couples. >> reporter: defenders of the law say congress has as much right as the states to make its own definition of marriage. >> doma is important because congress said it was important. we sent our elected representatives to washington, d.c., and they chose to say that marriage is one man and one woman for federal law. >> reporter: conservatives say the founding fathers never contemplated gay marriage. >> it's clearly not what anyone understood as marriage at the time of the framing of the constitution. >> reporter: still, same-sex family as pay taxes and don't get the same benefits. the issue with doma gets

complicated if they have children who are also excluded from benefits. >> when we have kid, i would like them to be born in a post-doma united states. >> reporter: ironically, conservative legal advocates say raising children is one of the biggest arguments in favor of preserving traditional marriage between and a man and a woman. the supreme court is likely to decide the doma case some time this june. we'll take you to iraq next. we have the first visit by the new secretary of state, john kerry, who is making a trip there. what are they going to be talking about? back in a moment.

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